It was an anti-Fox News whine-fest on Wednesday night’s Late Night where CNN host Brian Stelter showed up to hawk his new Fox-hating book, Hoax and complain about moderator Chris Wallace letting President Trump derail Tuesday’s debate. The bitter CNN host, who consistently gets buried by his Fox rivals in ratings, also held a pity party for himself being the "hate object" of Fox viewers.
The two liberal hosts started off by complaining Trump had “blew up” the debate. They worried further debates would continue to be unfair because Trump could still interrupt and “distract” viewers, even if his mic gets turned off:
STELTER: Even if they cut off his microphone in future debates, which is definitely being talked about by the commission now, even if they cut off his microphone so that the viewers can't hear him, Joe Biden can still hear him! The moderator can still hear him! So, even cutting off the microphone is not going to be enough to moderate or control the situation.
He added that he hopes Trump won't feel like he can be as much of a “rabid dog” at the next debate (words he borrowed from Meyers.) Meyers worried that Trump’s talking would distract viewers from Biden: "[Y]ou know, Biden will still hear him you'll still be able to hear him a little bit through Biden's mic, and it will be more distracting then it would be hearing the words he's saying."
The duo turned to bashing Fox News. After Stelter went on an unhinged rant about Fox delivering “poisoned information” to the president, Meyers sympathized for the CNNer having to sit and watch an “unhealthy” amount for his book.
But Stelter admitted he didn’t even really watch Fox News, he just read the chyrons while muted and sped through segments:
SETH MEYERS: You not only watched the debate last night, but you, for your book, you sort of watch Fox News more than is maybe a healthy amount [ laughter ] Did you find it hard to watch it day in and day out?
BRIAN STELTER: That's funny, I watch it a lot like President Trump. I have the volume off. I watch it by fast-forwarding, I'll fast-forward through shows just so I can at least see what's on the banner, see what they're saying because I don't think you can understand America without understanding Fox right now. It is an alternative reality, where New York City, a place I love, is a hell-hole, a disaster zone it's so unhinged from reality, but if you don't know what your grandfather or your grandmother is hearing on Fox, then you can't possibly have a reasonable conversation so, I did watch too much Fox for the book, mostly muted and, here's the funny thing, at home -- I don't know how this works, Seth, my wife would always know when I had Fox with the volume up. Whenever I turned the volume up, she somehow could tell that it wasn't CNN or MSNBC. It was like she had a sixth sense for Fox. And, of course, she wanted me to mute it. But, I told her I was working. I told her I had to work.
Does Stelter realize how toxic and demoralizing it is to sit and listen to his network all day? And here at NewsBusters, we actually sit and watch whole shows with the sound on!
Despite his whole career at CNN centering on bashing Fox News and its viewers, Stelter had the audacity to complain about being a “hate object” for Fox News viewers:
MEYERS: Well, one thing she might have heard on Fox News that you don't hear on the other cable news channels, is Fox News personalities complaining about you by name. You come up a lot. How is it -- how does it feel to be a cable news reporter who is, you know, basically being dragged by the cable news reporters on another network?
STELTER: Yeah, I'm one of their hate objects, and we just have to view it the way it is. Let's call it what it is. Trump is leading a hate movement against the media and he has a bunch of hate objects, and Fox picks up on those and runs with those. But, it is so surreal, Seth. When you're watching Sean Hannity's show, and all of a sudden he's calling you Humpty Dumpty, and he's using a funny picture of you on TV, that never gets old that is always weird and it's weird for me because Hannity used to be really friendly with me he gave me great advice when I went in to CNN like, you know, he used to be almost a mentor of sorts. Tucker Carlson, too. He donated money when I was a blogger. So, to have these relationships with these guys, and then to see them fall so far down the Trump rabbit hole, it really is surreal. You know, Tucker called me a eunuch once, and I had to Google that word. And I wish I hadn't learned what it meant but now everyday, I get tweets from people calling me, calling me those insults. And it really does speak to how this information war is waged. Like, I think it's mostly funny, and I don't really care that they call me Humpty-Dumpty, and I know that I've got a bald, you know, head but, it does show how the information war is waged when all these trolls pile on and use the nicknames that Fox comes up with you know what I mean?
Stelter ended the interview by spreading a conspiracy that the president was “sick” and everyone at Fox News knows it. Meyers praised his bogus book based off self-admitted shoddy research and discredited sources part of the "historical record:"
STELTER: [T]he press needs to fact check. The Republicans need to stand up to Trump there's all these people making excuses and say that other institutions need to take action well, you know what, the problem, the root problem is the president. And yes, fact checking can help. And yes, other things can help but, you know, as I write in the book, when grandpa is sick, when you have a loved one who is sick, the entire family suffers. And I had people at Fox News say to me, "Is that what's going on, Brian? Is that what's going on?And they are wondering the same things that lots of other people are wondering. The difference is that when you work for Fox, you're afraid to say it out loud, on the record, because it's going to piss off the audience.
MEYERS: Well, congrats on the book it is a very nice historical record I look forward to when it is a historical record, because that will mean we're in the future and not the present.
NBC spreading Stelter's "alternative reality" where Fox News is out to get him was paid for by advertisers Toyota and Comcast. You can contact them by following the links above.
